Morrison\u2019s dispute with Berns began as an artistic concern, Morrison unhappy with Berns\u2019 attempts to steer him in the direction of chart music, and fearing that his songs were being overproduced. After the death of Bert, owing to a heart attack, in December 1967, Morrison\u2019s relationship with Bang Records and Bert\u2019s widow, Ilene, became more acrimonious. He was rendered unable to record new music, and prevented from playing in the clubs of New York, where he had been based \u2013 after moving from Belfast \u2013 since undertaking the Bang Records recordings the previous March. Also facing visa troubles, Morrison married and moved, around the turn of the year, from New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
It was in the clubs of Boston that Morrison honed the compositions that would appear on Astral Weeks<\/em>. Warner Bros. in the meantime prised Morrison away from Bang Records, leaving a set of conditions between Morrison and his former label which he managed to disparagingly fulfil. However many of the songs on Astral Weeks<\/em> \u2013 including most notably its two centrepieces, \u2018Cyprus Avenue\u2019 and \u2018Madame George\u2019 \u2013 had been born in Belfast; while \u2018Ballerina\u2019 stemmed from a stop in San Francisco during a tour of the United States, with his band Them, between May and June of 1966.<\/p>\n Following the recording of Astral Weeks<\/em>, Morrison moved to upstate New York, near the town of Woodstock. It was here that he wrote much of Moondance<\/em>, which was recorded at A & R Studios in New York City between August and December 1969, and would be released on Warner Bros. at the end of February 1970.<\/p>\n Lewis Merenstein had served as the producer for Astral Weeks<\/em>, and worked with Morrison again for Moondance<\/em> \u2013 although Morrison co-opted production responsibilities, and was ultimately listed in the album\u2019s credits as \u2018Producer\u2019, with Merenstein given the title \u2018Executive Producer\u2019. In Ritchie Yorke\u2019s Van Morrison: Into The Music<\/em>, published in 1975, Morrison stated regarding the Moondance<\/em> recording sessions, \u2018no one knew what I was looking for except me, so I just did it\u2019.<\/p>\n While Astral Weeks<\/em> had received extensive critical acclaim upon its release \u2013 Rolling Stone<\/em> even named it album of the year \u2013 the record had not proved a commercial success. Moondance<\/em> \u2013\u00a0retaining Morrison\u2019s richly exploratory vocal manner, his abstract imagery and the sense of spiritual yearning, but on an upbeat record, infused with R&B rhythms yet with a more discrete sound palette characterising each of its ten songs \u2013\u00a0established Morrison\u2019s reputation as a major artist with a wide appeal. The album reached number 29 on the Billboard albums chart; and while Morrison has described himself as near-starving even after the release of Astral Weeks<\/em>, Moondance<\/em> provided him with the base upon which to build a lasting career.<\/p>\n Alongside Van\u2019s voice, Moondance<\/em> is defined by its rhythm section and horns. Merenstein had sought to reunite Morrison with the core musicians of Astral Weeks<\/em>. These included guitarist Jay Berliner and percussionist Warren Smith, and bassist Richard Davis, who had previously worked, respectively, with Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy. They had been significantly responsible for the free jazz sound of Astral Weeks<\/em>; but Van declined to work with them on this second occasion. In came saxophonist Jack Schroer, guitarist John Platania, and keyboardist Jef Labes, who would become mainstays of Morrison\u2019s band across the early 1970s, featuring as part of his Caledonia Soul Orchestra until the end of 1973.<\/p>\n Horns play a key part on the title track, but following its swinging jazz, the sweet soul of \u2018Crazy Love\u2019 sounds especially fine. \u2018I can hear her heart beating \/ For a thousand miles\u2019, Van begins; and while the gentle structure of the song foreshadows the title track of 1971\u2019s Tupelo Honey<\/em>, the falsetto he easily adopts looks forward equally to \u2018Who Was That Masked Man\u2019 from Veedon Fleece<\/em>. Van inhabits the song, the closeness of his voice complemented by the distant cooing of the female backing vocals.<\/p>\n \u2018Come Running\u2019, from the second side of the album, was the only single released at the time from Moondance<\/em> (the track \u2018Moondance\u2019 was not released as a single until 1977). It came out in May 1970, with \u2018Crazy Love\u2019 as the B-side, and peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the Netherlands however, the single was flipped, with \u2018Crazy Love\u2019 as the A-side and \u2018Come Running\u2019 on the reverse. The cover of the single featured Morrison in a thick sweater with his then-wife Janet \u2018Planet\u2019 Rigsbee, in a photograph taken by Elliott Landy: the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, whose photographs featured on Bob Dylan\u2019s Nashville Skyline<\/em> as well as Moondance<\/em>.<\/p>\n
![\"Crazy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.culturedarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Crazy-Love-1.jpg\")
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